State Schools Chief Jack O’Connell Defends California Science Standards

A press release from the California Department of Education:

STATE SCHOOLS CHIEF JACK O’CONNELL DEFENDS CALIFORNIA SCIENCE STANDARDS
Opposes Intelligent Design Theory as Threat to Integrity of Teaching Natural Sciences
 
LOS ANGELES — State Superintendent of Public Instruction Jack O’Connell today defended California’s science standards from efforts to inject the theory of intelligent design into natural science curriculum.

“The introduction of intelligent design theory in natural science courses would be a blow to the integrity of education in California,” O’Connell said. “Our state has been recognized across the country and around the world for the quality and rigor of our academic standards. Just like I will fight tooth and nail to protect California’s high academic standards, I will fight to ensure that good science is protected in California classrooms.”

California’s science standards, which include the teaching of evolution theory, were developed with input from national leaders in science. The Fordham Foundation has awarded California an “A” for its science standards along with just a handful of other states.

President Bush has been quoted recently saying that students should be exposed to intelligent design theory. A trial on the legitimacy of teaching the concept of intelligent design in science courses is currently underway in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

“The goal of public education is for students to gain the knowledge and skills necessary for California’s work force to be competitive in the global, information-based economy of the 21st Century,” O’Connell said. “We also want to give students the tools to become critical thinkers and to be able to discuss and reflect on philosophical questions. But, the domain of the natural sciences is the natural world. Science is limited by its tools — observable facts and testable hypothesis. Because religious beliefs are based on faith, and are not subject to scientific test and refutation, these beliefs should not be taught in the realm of natural sciences.”

O’Connell noted that discussion about divine creation, ultimate purposes, or ultimate causes would be appropriate topics for discussion in history-social science or English-language arts curricula.

Speaking at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles, O’Connell was joined by the President of the California Science Teachers Association. O’s comments were also supported by Dr. Eugenie Scott, the Executive Director of the National Center for Science Education.

“California’s unsurpassed state science standards treat evolution appropriately: as the central, powerful, unifying principle of the biological sciences that it is. I am gratified that Superintendent O’Connell recognizes the need to defend the teaching of evolution against religiously motivated and scientifically unwarranted attacks,” Dr. Scott said in a statement made from Pennsylvania, where she is monitoring the trial over the teaching of intelligent design theory in high schools in Dover.

“In California schools we are trying to educate students, not change their belief system,” O’Connell concluded. “We will best serve students if they graduate understanding the difference between scientific knowledge and values, faith or religious beliefs.”

Perhaps the single least surprising announcement in the history of surprising announcements.

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